True Life: I was on Wheel of Fortune
On December 30, Justin Gagnon appeared as a contestant on "Wheel of Fortune," proudly identifying himself as a journalism major at UMass Amherst. Unfortunately, he didn't win, but he did manage to double his annual salary in 30 minutes. Earlier in the month Gagnon wrote an article for the Daily Collegian that reflected on the overall experience. He writes, "One can only succeed as far as their luck can allow him or her to go, but with one action as simple as a click of a mouse, his or her life can change for the better or for the worse in an instant. Mine changed last May. It was the time of year that when big dreams meander into a strange purgatory between inevitability and just another reverie of the season. This year, however, my big dream would actually amount to something." Read more...

Fountain Keynotes eGOVsharE in Turkey
Jane Fountain (political science and public policy), director of the National Center for Digital Government, gave a keynote address at eGOVsharE 2009: “eTransformation in Public Administration from e-Government to e-Governance: Sharing Experience,” held Dec. 8-11 in Antalya, Turkey. Read more...

Sievert Elected Fellow of AAAS
Lynnette Leidy Sievert (anthropology) and three other UMass Amherst faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of her scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Sievert was honored for “distinguished contributions to the biocultural study of women’s health, particularly for enhancing understanding of menopause and its relation to broader aspects of women’s lives.” Read more...

Campus Ranks 4th Nationally in Gilman Scholarships for Study Abroad
UMass Amherst students are among the most successful nationally in the congressionally funded Gilman Scholarship program for study abroad. Fourteen students (five from SBS) have been awarded the scholarships for the spring 2010 semester, ranking the school fourth in the country with Evergreen State University in Washington and San Francisco State University. The other top-ranked schools are the University of California, Berkeley, University of Arizona and New York University. Read more...

Study Abroad Scholarship Recipients Selected
The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences understands that many students—now more than ever—need financial assistance to help their dreams come true. And because SBS encourages its students to study abroad for a semester or two, or at least a summer, we are working hard to make more funds available to help support this experience. This year the College was able to give $1,000 scholarships to 20 students who will be spending the spring semester abroad, thanks to the generosity of Jeffrey Katz '69 (economics), owner of Sherwood Equities in New York. Read more...

USA Today Quotes Feldman
In a USA Today feature on celebrity imposters and lying, Dean Robert Feldman speculates that the Salahis, the couple who recently crashed a White House party, are extremely status conscious and probably entered gradually into deceptions until they reached a point where they couldn’t turn back. "Without making a diagnosis of [the Salahis], chances are they're everyday people who are extremely status-conscious, want to be accepted by others and take one step at a time that leads them to more and more extreme behavior, until the point where they can't turn back," he says. Read More

Model Wins Fulbright Grant to Study Migration Trends in Taiwan
Suzanne Model, a sociologist who studies international migration, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research at Academia Sinica in Taiwan during the spring semester. She will study who emigrates from and who returns to Taiwan by analyzing census data and interviewing Taiwanese at home and abroad. Read more...

Anthropologist Plays Key Role in Return of Native American Remains for Burial
On November 16 Northern Mexico's Yaqui Indians buried their lost warriors after a two-year effort to rescue the remains from New York's American Museum of Natural History. where the victims of one of North America's last Indian massacres lay in storage for more than a century. These victims of one of North America’s last Indian massacres in 1902 lay in storage for more than a century. The bones were forgotten until Professor Ventura Perez MA '00, PhD '06 (anthropology) and a fellow anthropologist started to study them in 2007 and realized their gruesome history. Read more in the New York Times. The AP story appeared in major media outlets across the nation.

Professor Whitehead Goes to Washington
Professor Ralph Whitehead (journalism) was part of a panel (along with Vice President Joe Biden) at the Center for American Progress earlier this month--the topic: The Challenges Facing the Middle Class in the 21st Century Economy. The vice president, who chairs the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, invited Whitehead and five other scholars from around the country to take part in the discussion. Watch video of the discussion.

Alice Rossi Dies
Prominent feminist and scholar, Alice S. Rossi, the Harriet Martineau Professor of Sociology emerita, died peacefully on November 3. Born in New York City, she graduated from Brooklyn College and obtained a Ph.D in sociology from Columbia University. Prior to her appointment at UMass Amherst, Rossi held faculty positions at Harvard University, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, and Goucher College. She was one of the 16 founders of the National Organization of Women (NOW). Read more....

Badgett to Present Distinguished Faculty Lecture
M.V. Lee Badgett (economics), director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, will present in this year's Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series. Her talk, “From I Can’t to I Do: When Gay People Get Married,” will be take place on Monday, November 9 at 4:00 p.m. in the Bernie Dallas Room of the Goodell Building. A reception will follow. After her lecture, Badgett will receive the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest honor bestowed on individuals for exemplary and extraordinary service to the campus. The lecture series is sponsored by the offices of the chancellor and the provost. Read more...
View video of Badgett's presentation.

Servaes Keynotes International Conferences in Thailand, China
Jan Servaes (communication), director of the SBS Center, Communication for Sustainable Social Change (CSSC), recently keynoted two international conferences and was appointed an honorary guest professor at the Huazhong University of Technology and Science in China. Read more...

Sociologists Honored for Excellence in Work-Family Research
Congratulations go to Professors Michelle Budig and Joya Misra (sociology) who were named finalists for this year's Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Their article, coauthored with Stephanie Moller (UNC Charlotte), was “Work-Family Policies and Poverty for Partnered and Single Women in Europe and North America,” published in Gender & Society [21(6):804-27]. Read more...

Public Comment “Toolkit” for Regulatory Agencies Launched
Researchers in the Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP) on campus and at the University of Pittsburgh have launched a free, Web-based beta version of the Public Comment Analysis Toolkit (PCAT) to enable government officials to listen to and engage with the American public about regulations that impact their lives and businesses. The software builds on the concept of transparent and participatory “open” government advocated by the White House. Read more...

UMass Journalism in Sicily
Travel Writing and Photojournalism in Sicily is a 3-credit course offered by Journalism during the spring semester. Accepted students study the fundamentals of travel writing and/or basic photography while preparing for a 10-day travel experience to Sicily during Spring Break. Accompanied by professional guides, they will travel throughout the Italian island, photographing and experiencing the people and the landscape. Students will also keep a reporter's notebook to record their day-to-day impressions for assignments after the trip. While preference is given to the Journalism major, students from all majors and the Five Colleges are encouraged to apply. But don't delay. Deadline for applications is coming up on November 15. Click here for details.

Heritage in Conflict Workshop
Associate Professor Elizabeth Chilton, chair of the Anthropology Department and director of the UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society, is interested in uncovering and putting together missing pieces of history. This fall she is organizing a workshop titled "Heritage in Conflict and Consensus: New Approaches to the Social, Political, and Religious Impact of Public Heritage in the 21st Century." The workshop is for professionals in the field of study as well as for community members interested in history and archaeology, global problems involving indigenous burial grounds, learning about the destruction of heritage all over the world, and other topics dealing with awareness and preservation of historical and cultural lands. The public portion of the workshop will be held at UMass Amherst on November 9-10 this year. Read more...

Women Can Help Find Causes of Cancer
“The Milk Study: Using Breast Milk to Screen for Breast Cancer and Assess Breast-Cancer Risk,” led by UMass Amherst researchers Kathleen Arcaro (veterinary and animal sciences) and Doug Anderton (sociology), director of the Social and Demographic Research Institute and associate dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is among the Love/Avon Army of Women’s current projects to fight breast cancer. Read more...

SBS Faculty Recognized for Outstanding Accomplishments
This year’s Faculty Convocation ceremony on October 2, which marked the official installation of Robert Holub as Chancellor, also featured the presentation of the Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity to seven nationally recognized faculty members. Three of them, Naomi Gerstel (sociology) Sheldon Goldman (political science) and Robert N. Pollin (economics) are members of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Read more...

Please Join Us!
The Thirteenth Annual Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture featuring UMass Amherst economist Robert Pollin will take place on Thursday, October 15 at 4:00 p.m in Gordon Hall, 418 North Pleasant St., in the third floor conference room. Pollin will speak onThe Economic Logic and Moral Imperative of Full Employment. Presented by the Department of Economics and The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. Read more....

CSG Offers Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy Scholarship
The Conservation Services Group (CSG) is a thriving nonprofit organization that promotes energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy resources to protect the environment; to make homes and buildings safer, healthier, more comfortable, more durable, and more affordable to operate; and to create a profitable, sustainable industry focused on the wise use of energy thereby contributing to building a more effective and efficient economy overall. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the company has established a scholarship fund to support students whose studies or research involve the promotion of energy efficiency, energy policy, conservation, clean energy and sustainable living practices to reduce our impact on the planet. Applicants must be full time UMass Amherst undergraduate (sophomore/junior/senior) or graduate students from the College of Engineering, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, or the Isenberg School of Managemen. For more information, click here.

Wing Thing Welcomes Students, Celebrates Advising Center
The SBS Wing Thing on Thursday, September 24 was a huge success. Besides welcoming hundreds of majors in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the party celebrated the grand opening of the new SBS Advising Center in 128 Thompson Hall. Students enjoyed great food and the a capella tunes of the Dynamics, visited the Advising Center and learned more about opportunities SBS offers. In addition, everyone had a chance to win a brand new iPod touch. Congratulations to the raffle winner, Jason Burrell '11 (legal studies) of Boston. View pictures of the event.

Shulman Helps Develop Secret Service Workshop on Threatening Communications
As a member of the “Committee to Investigate the Relationship between Threatening Communications and Actual Behavior” within the Intelligence Division of the U.S. Secret Service, Assistant Professor Stuart Shulman (political science) worked to develop a two-day workshop in September on the relationship between threatening communication sent to Secret Service protectees and actual behavior. The workshop marked a first step toward examining communication factors and sparking a new research initiative within the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC). Read more...[pdf]

Fall Into Success Kick-off Event
Students, it is never too early to start working on your career! On Tuesday, October 6, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Campus Career Advisory Team at UMass Amherst will kick off October’s Fall into Success series for students with an event on the library lawn. In addition to a video competition on “Why hire U?” (with the grand prize of an iTouch), students can have their resumes reviewed, sign up for mock interviews and participate in a variety of career-related events. Read more...

Public Service Award to Honor Castañeda
Professor Mari Castañeda (communication) has been selected as a recipient of the UMass President's Public Service Award for 2009. The award recognizes her work with low-income citizens in education, economic development and housing and her dedication to the Community Outreach Partnership Center in Holyoke, which she helped develop. Read more....

SBS Opens New Undergraduate Advising Center
When students arrived on campus this fall, a brand new Social and Behavioral Sciences Advising Center opened its doors to welcome them. Located in 128 Thompson Tower, the Advising Center serves undergraduate majors in Anthropology, Communication, Economics, Journalism, Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (except for AS candidates in Landscape Contracting*), Legal Studies, Political Science, Social Thought and Political Economy, and Sociology. Read more...

Dean Feldman's Book Gets National Attention
During the first week of August, when Dean Robert Feldman's new book The Liar in Your Life was released, he was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America" and took calls on NPR's "Talk of the Nation." Feldman says lying is common and that people willingly accept and often welcome the lies they are told because it takes a lot of work to identify lying and liars. View Good Morning America video. Read NPR transcript or listen to the program. Since then, Time Magazine interviewed Feldman, and many other outlets have featured the book.

New Dean Takes Over, LARP Joins SBS
July 1, 2009 marked some notable changes in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Robert Feldman, associate dean since 2006, became SBS's new dean, the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) joined SBS, and the Department of Psychology moved to the new College of Natural Sciences. Read more...

A Different Understanding of Privacy
In a June 29, 2009 New York Times article that takes a closer look at Facebook's new privacy options, a section is devoted to Chris Peterson '09 (legal studies) and his 'very readable" draft thesis "Saving Face: The Privacy Architecture of Facebook" [pdf], that was supervised by Professors Alan Gaitenby and Ethan Katsh. Peterson argues that the idea that anything published ought to be understood as intended for public distribution is an antiquated understanding from the era when publishing was expensive and required a lot of effort. The opposite is true today. Likewise, Peterson argues that the dominant legal framework today "recognizes as private only that which is completely secret." Read the article... Read more about Peterson...

Econ Prof to Advise California's Cap-and-Trade Emissions Program
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed Professor James K. Boyce (economics) to the Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee, a 16-member panel that will advise the state on implementing a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases. Three years ago, California adopted the Global Warming Solutions Act, aimed at cutting the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. A key element of that plan is the creation of a cap-and-trade program that is part of a regional market involving other participants in the Western Climate Initiative. Read more...

Clegg Drafted by Washington Nationals
Mitchell Clegg '10 (economics), who anchored the UMass Amherst baseball team’s pitching staff and led the Minutemen to their first spot in the Atlantic 10 tournament this year, has been drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 21st round of the Major League Baseball draft. Clegg’s record was 7-1 with a 4.15 earned-run average. He struck out 81 in 91 innings, with 35 walks. He is the first Minuteman to be drafted since Matt Torra and Jason Twomley were chosen in 2005. Read more...

In Memoriam
We are sorry to report the untimely death of Saige Reisler, SBS director of development, on June 6, 2009. Passionate and successful in her work as a fundraiser, Reisler joined SBS in 2006 as senior associate director of development, bringing with her more than ten years of nonprofit development experience. Read more...

SBS Alum Named Interim VC of Student Affairs
Jean Kim '72 (sociology) has been named interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life for the 2009-10 academic year. She will assume her new duties on July 1. Kim's 35-year career as a student affairs professional began as a residence life staff member in the Southwest Residential Area. Since then she has held key posts at colleges and universities across the country, including vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Puget Sound, and most recently, vice chancellor for student affairs at UMass Dartmouth. Read more...

SBS Presents Outstanding Teaching Awards
This year’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award has been presented to Jarice Hanson (communication) and Christopher Overtree (psychology). This award was instituted in 1995 to augment the University Distinguished Teaching Award by recognizing more talented teachers. Nominating procedures, however, are different. Candidates for the College Teaching Award are nominated by their peers and selected by the SBS Instructional Quality Council; for the University award, nominees come from current and former students and are selected by a committee of faculty and students. Read more...

Students Receive SBS Scholarships
Congratulations to this year's students who earned scholarships for internships, study abroad and meritorious academic achievement from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Each of these scholarships is funded through private gifts. If it were not for the support of our generous alumni and friends, SBS would be unable to acknowledge these remarkable students and contribute to their undergraduate educations. At the Awards Ceremony on May 16 at the Campus Center, several of these donors were in attendance. Read more...

Commencement 2009
Approximately 4,250 candidates received bachelor’s degrees in nearly 100 majors during 139th undergraduate Commencement on May 23 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. About 20,000 people attended the ceremony. Jackie Hai (journalism) was the student speaker. Also, three of the thirteen 21st Century Leaders were SBS majors: Amy Kent (anthropology); Lindsay E. McCluskey (anthropology); Elizabeth F. Paice (psychology/political science). Read more about Commencement. Click here to view slide show or to order DVD/video of the undergraduate commencement.

Feldman Named Interim Dean
Robert Feldman (psychology), associate dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has accepted the position of Interim Dean of the College. Writes Dean Janet Rifkin, who will step down the end of June, "This is wonderful news for all of us. Bob has broad and intimate knowledge about all facets of SBS and I know that he will be a committed, strong and engaged leader of the College during what we can anticipate will be a critical period of transition." Read more...

NCDG and STS Initiative Awarded NSF Grant to Build National Beta Site
Jane Fountain, professor of political science and public policy and director of the National Center for Digital Government and the Science, Technology and Society (STS) Initiative, along with Marilyn Billings, scholarly communication & special initiatives librarian at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, have been awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Integrative Research. With this funding they will beta test cybertools and cyberinfrastructure for an interdisciplinary, multimedia, and international online beta repository to support ethics in science and engineering. The project is based at the Center for Public Policy and Administration. Read more...

Amherst Ranked Top College Town in North America
Great faculty, excellent graduate programs and NCAA sports at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are just some of the reasons why Amherst ranks as the top college town in North America, says college admissions counselor Katherine L. Cohen in a story featured on MSN.com. Cohen, the founder and CEO of two college counseling firms, IvyWise LLC and ApplyWise.com, ranks Amherst ahead of Berkeley, Calif., Montreal, Washington, D.C. and Boston. Read more...

Why People Lie
In a recent U.S. News & World Report article, Robert Feldman (psychology), associate dean of SBS and author of The Liar in Your Life: The Way to Truthful Relationships to be released this summer, comments in a story about why people lie. “We use lies to grease the wheels of social discourse. It’s socially useful to tell lies,” Feldman says. He adds, however, that a balance is required, because people who constantly lie quickly earn a reputation for being untrustworthy and will get tuned out. Read the article.

CPPA Offers Faculty Grants Workshop
With support from the Mellon Mutual Mentoring program, the Center for Public Policy & Administration (CPPA) is sponsoring a grants workshop for six faculty on campus during the 2009-2010 academic year. The workshop will provide intellectual and practical support for faculty working on grant proposals with policy implications. Applications for participation in the workshop are welcome from all UMass faculty, regardless of rank or department, although priority will be given to faculty affiliated with CPPA or SBS. Each selected participant will be eligible for up to $1,500 to bring a mentor or collaborator to campus to assist with the proposal and give a public talk related to the participant¹s scholarship. Click here for complete application guidelines and instructions [pdf]. Applications are due by May 29, 2009.

Faulkner's New Book Explores Sociology of Jazz Repertoire
For anyone who’s ever wondered how jazz musicians who don’t know each other get together on stage and perform, sociologists Robert R. Faulkner and Howard S. Becker examine the intricacies of the process in their forthcoming book Do You Know? … The Jazz Repertoire in Action. Read more...

Hai Among Top Student Journalists in Nation
Big honors have come to Jackie Hai '09 (journalism), editor of Amherst Wire, a student-run project of the journalism program and program director and webmaster at UVC-TV 19. She has been named one of the UWIRE 100, the best and brightest student journalists in the nation. They were selected from a pool of more than 825 nominations submitted by professionals, professors and peers (and some parents) from more than 135 schools. This year's 100 hailed from 69 schools. The institution with the most honorees was the University of Kansas (six), followed closely by Indiana University (five), Penn State (four). Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of Missouri, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill each had three honorees. There were eight honorees who were also part of 2008's UWIRE 100 honoree class. Read more about the UWIRE 100.

High National Rankings for UMass Amherst/SBS
US News & World Report is well known for its annual rankings of educational institutions. In the National Universities category, for schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master's, and doctoral degrees and also are committed to producing groundbreaking research, UMass Amherst was ranked in the Tier 1 category, coming in 102nd overall and 50th in public universities. Guidance counselors ranked UMass Amherst 58th nationally. This year US News analyzed more than 12,000 graduate programs to assess rankings. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences fared very well. Sociology tied for 31st nationally with the University of California San Diego and Vanderbilt University. This ranking shows a progression since 2005 when Sociology ranked 35th. Psychology tied for 50th, with institutions like Boston University, Florida State, SUNY Stony Brook, and the University of Georgia. And the Center for Public Policy and Administration came in at 72, along with the University of Missouri Kansas CiIty, the University of Oklahoma, University of South Carolina, among others. Read more...

Anatomy of a Hollywood Writer
On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, As part of the Eleanor Bateman Alumni Scholar in Residence program, Mark F. Wilding '79 (economics), executive producer and a lead writer of Grey's Anatomy will share his story from student to award-winning, nationally prominent writer and producer. Come hear about Hollywood, the glitz and the grit, from one who really knows, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Memorial Hall. Immediately following the talk, guests can visit with Mr. Wilding at a complimentary reception. Click here for more information.

Powers to Present Distinguished Faculty Lecture
On Monday, April 27, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center, Sally I. Powers (psychology), director of the Center for Research on Families, will present the last of this academic year’s presentations in the Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series. Her talk is entitled, "Hormones and Lovers’ Quarrels: How Stress Translates Into Depression." Read more…

Amherst Wire Gets National Recognition
In PBS, Media Shift on April 10, 2009, Bryan Murley, assistant professor of new and emerging media at Eastern Illinois University, says he has been searching college media websites looking for innovative ways student journalists are covering the economic crisis, the biggest story of their generation. He writes, "Probably the best example I have seen comes from the Amherst Wire, not a traditional college media outlet by any means. They covered the economic collapse in October with Market Meltdown 101. In March, they returned with an explanation of the economic stimulus package, Economic Stimulus 101, which was tied to a FAQ about the stimulus package." Steve Fox (journalism) is the faculty advisor of Amherst Wire.

Alumni Association Announces 2009 Scholarships and Awards
SBS majors are strongly represented in this year's Alumni Association scholarship awards: Leaders in the Making include Madeline Haynes '10 (psychology); she also received the Robert B. Collins '19 SAA scholarship.The Life Member Scholarship for Internships honors Roseanne Walunas '11 (journalism); and nearly one third of the 60 William F. Field Alumni Scholars are SBS majors (plus two of the Humanities and Fine Arts honorees have an SBS double major)! Click here to see a full listing.

Oprah Zeroes in on Dean Feldman
O, the Oprah Magazine, included a short segment in the March 2009 Reality Check section that references research by Associate Dean Robert Feldman (psychology). He notes that his research on lying shows that 60% of people tell at least one mistruth in a 10-minute conversation, , with most fibbing an average of two to three times. His study shows that you can increase the odds of getting the truth by speaking in person—Psychology Today has reported that people lie more on the phone.

Debate Team Makes Elite Eight in National Tournament
For several years the Policy Debate Team has been working to rebuild its national stature held in the 1970s and 1980s, but participation has been limited to regional competitions—until now. This year, building upon its success at the Regional Championships and other tournaments and with support from alumni, the Political Science Department, and their coaches who volunteer their time, the team was able to compete again on the national stage. Underestimated, largely unknown, and rivaling teams with greater financial resources, the debate team surprised many with their high placing, roughly the equivalent of the Elite Eight in the NCAA basketball tournament. Read more...

Tropp Receives Fellowship
The International Graduate College on Conflict and Cooperation between Social Groups has awarded Linda Tropp (psychology), director of the Psychology of Peace and Violence Concentration, the 2009 Henri Tajfel Fellowship. She will be a visiting professor at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany from April through May. Established in 2001, the IGC is a collaboration of research from European centers in the area of intergroup relations, Friedrich Schiller Universitat, the universities of Sussex and Kent at Canterbury (UK), and the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). Read more about the Tajfel Fellowship, IGC Programs, and Linda Tropp.

Student-run Amherst Wire Gets Handle on Economic Stimulus
Can we spend our way out of a bad economy? Amherst Wire, the student-run online news magazine dedicated to covering top stories and issues from a local perspective, has explored the issue in depth, interviewing numerous professors, including economists Carol Heim, Peter Skott and Gerald Friedman, who describe on various videos the background of the economic crisis and stimulus plan. They offer a basic overview, address where the money is coming from and where it's going, the effect on local and state budgets, and unemployment. This is a follow-up to the "Market Meltdown 101" Amherst Wire did in the fall that was picked up by national media. Click here for more.

Alum Visits White House
Kyle Wedberg MA'00 (public policy and administration) is interim president of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He recently attended the Stevie Wonder concert at the White House and brought along a Shea Pierre, a student who is an aspiring young pianist. While there Wedberg pressed Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, about “the need to get some public school artists of note and promise into the White House.” Read the New York Times article and view the picture of Wedberg at the White House.

Campus to Career Event for Students
On Tuesday, March 3, several SBS alumni will be on campus to participate in the Alumni Association's and Student Alumni Association's Campus to Career series. Lauren Evans '07 (psychology), a national sales assistant for Clear Channel Radio in Boston; Jessica Nokes '05 (communication), a corporate recruiter for Bullhorn in Boston; and Anthony Ong '94 (political science), an associate manager at Public Consulting Group, Inc. in Boston will be part of a panel discussion program, "Got Job?: Networking, Self-Marketing and Interview Skills." The program, open to all students (but registration is required), will be held at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, March 3 in Memorial Hall. To register and for more information on the program, click here.

Field Study in Communication & Journalism: Sligo & West Coast of Ireland
Sligo on the West Coast of Ireland will once again be the setting for a summer multimedia journalism course open to all UMass Amherst students and alumni. The 3-credit course, developed by Steve Klein of George Mason University’s Communication Department, will focus on international journalism, including reporting in a foreign environment, 24/7 news coverage, hyper-local journalism and multimedia reporting on different platforms. Read more...

UMass Amherst to Lead Statewide Effort to Diversify Participation in IT
UMass Amherst has received project expansion funding to bring more women and underrepresented minorities throughout Massachusetts into education and careers in information technology (IT) and computing. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $1.9 million to extend the Commonwealth Alliance for Information Technology Education (CAITE) for an additional 2 years and to add 6 institutions to the existing alliance. Read more...